An astrologer of Delhi ,himself wearing Rs. 5 Lakh worth of emeralds on his hand and arm.Emerald is recommended for Mercury or Budh planet for increase in business , intelligence etc but excess of anything,even vitamins,is always detrimental and it must backfire but this astrologer is ignorant of this basic fact.( Photo courtesy Outlook , Nov'2004 )

In 6 months of my on-line astrological consultancy , I have been often asked a question ,why I do not advise traditional उपाय or remedial measures like pouring oil on Shani stone , wearing gemstone or throwing something in river or Poojapaath, tantra and mantra. This essay is all about those issues.

The ancient Indian astrologers, who were more astronomer than astrologer, earned the trust of public , by accurately calculating the timing of solar and lunar eclipses . And when eclipses actually happened as calculated , everybody excluding astrologers , started considering astrologers next only to God . If astrologer can predict about Sun's and Moon's problems with certainty , he can definitely tell about human being's problems also !

This inspired astrologers to research the effects of various cycles of planets on human life. Over centuries of data collection resulted in the good knowledge about such effects and problems arising during some planetary cycles and that collective knowledge is called as astrology .

But knowing, that an eclipse will happen or a human being will suffer at some juncture, is one thing and to prevent it from happening is altogether a different issue. It is easier to know that there is no seat vacancy in train but managing a reservation seat in that situation may not be feasible at all. But people want Upaay in crisis at all costs and therefore, physical Upaay Industry in astrology started from there.

Initial remedies mentioned in Parashar Hora Shaastra , were restricted to faith in God, prayers, donations to needy and going to pilgrimages etc. The kings, who were the real patrons of astrologers, had no problem in doing these Upaay. But some of the Kings like Vikramaditya and Raja Bhoj , who learnt astrology themselves, did not go for these Upaay, but thought more on planet's characteristics and took preventive measures accordingly.

After many centuries, astrology descended from royal courts and came to poor and illiterate public, via astrologers with elementary knowledge of astrology. Such astrologers started highlighting the Donation theory for remedies, because otherwise they could get only some trivial things only in life , like food stuff etc as consultancy charges.

I have a book "Jyotish Shyam Sangrah", published from Bombay in Hindi & Sanskrit , some hundred years ago. The astrologer in that book, all the time keeps on describing a bad planetary combination and associates many horrors with such combination . Then he tells Upaay which are basically donating almost all possible things of use to astrologer like cow,buffalo, a quintal of grain, kitchen utensils, gold, silver , gemstone,bullock cart, horse and elephant , cooking oil, agricultural land and so on (see below). By the time book ends, the astrologer becomes super rich with the donations. Further he warns that donation must be made only to the astrologer , who predicted the future(See second pic ) .

Then most people got attracted to a book called Lal Kitaab , initially published in 1940s. The book was written in Urdu-Hindi and it completely detached the serious study of astrology and it became a text book for overnight astrologers similar to quack doctors. The Upaay of Lal Kitaab did not have any scientific connection with original planetary astrology and easy Upaay were suggested more on problem basis , without any need to go for Dasha or calculation of planetary astrology.

Gresham's rule in economics , says that a counterfeit coin or less valuable coin for same denomination will get the more valuable coin, out of circulation in market. For example, people would not keep a torn or counterfeit bank note with them and would give it to someone else and that way a bad coin circulates more while a new note is preserved with a few persons.

So, the start of Lal Kitaab era led to eclipse of actual planetary astrology based on Dasha cycles. And finally modern TV Babajis in 21st century ( Nirmal Fame) discarded even Lal Kitaab also and just started doling out ridiculous Upaay while charging people in tens of thousands and claiming it is no tantra mantra. The general public as on date is fed this counterfeit astrology only and hence it is not effective at all. But the blame comes to astrology while public is equally responsible.

Astrology and medical science both are excellent in finding the cause of problem. But when it comes to treatment and remedial actions, the human emotions come into picture. That is where, the role of psychology becomes important in both medical and astrological science.That is why, medical college syllabus has a patient psychology course as its integral part. And a successful doctor is not that, who can diagnose the disease, but the one , who can convince the patient for taking right treatment. For diagnosis, there are now machines, which have great accuracy in pinpointing the problem . So, doctor's role has more tilted towards psychological counselling of patient with human touch.

The same thing has happened in astrology also. With advent of computer software, anybody can draw the Kundli chart in seconds. So, the role of astrologer has shifted more to psychological counselling of mentally stressed persons, based on planetary cycles. I have a very good story on this psychological angle of Upaay. Please enjoy this story :

" In a Gurukul in a village ,an experienced astrologer used to teach astrology to his disciples .The astrologer was quite famous in his locality for his accurate predictions , so people would come to his Gurukul to consult him at fixed morning hours. The trainees under him would also participate in the question and answer session as part of practicals .

One morning in a summer season, in the scheduled 2 hours of consultation time, the first person who visited astrologer , was a local poor farmer.He gave a bag of grains to astrologer as fee and then narrated his problem of scarcity of money in great details and asked astrologer whether he should borrow some money to sow his fields , because last year crop had failed due to drought and he could not repay the earlier loan also.

Astrologer used to practice "Prashna Jyotish" and was ready with current planet positions , so he did not take much time and told farmer that, there was no need to worry and he advised to go for loan and do the sowing and gave him a rosary and instructed to do Shiva Naam Japa with rosary twice a day for 4 months and told him that with this Upaay , his money problems would be solved in 4 months.Farmer was satisfied and thanked astrologer and went.

After half an hour , a local money lender businessman visited the astrologer. He gave some silver coin to astrologer as fee and started telling his problem that farmers had not paid their loan last year because of crop failure , so he had scarcity of funds . He was left with some reserve money only , but the farmers are again coming for borrowing. So his problem was, to know whether crops would be all right this time, then only he could lend further money.

Astrologer said that everything would be OK in 4 months and he would get back all his lent money provided he wore a diamond stone in golden ring, after doing Puja and donation to 11 Brahmins. The moneylender thanked the astrologer for advice and decided to act on the advice soon.

After the businessman left , after half an hour , a chariot stopped at Gurukul gate and the local landlord or Zamindaar came to meet the astrologer. After touching the feet of astrologer and giving him a gold chain, Zamindaar said, that he was worried due to scarcity of money in his treasury. Because of last year's crop failure , he could not realise his land tax from farmers, while he had to deposit the annual compulsory tax to Nawaab of State. So, he wanted to know the prospects of tax realisation from farmers after rainy season, otherwise he may have to sell some land to pay taxes to Nawaab.

The astrologer assured the Zamindaar that everything would be OK in 4 months and he would not need to sell his land, provided he goes for a Mahayagya for Shiva, spanning over 21 days and then organising a free lunch to villagers and donation to 101 Brahmins at the end of Mahayagya. Zamindaar got relaxed with this assurance and thanked the astrologer for telling him the appropriate remedy. He got Muhurt for Yagya and proceeded back.

The 2 hour session ended that day. Then, the most intelligent disciple of astrologer, who was also involved in the process, stood up and asked the teacher " Guru Ji, I also tried to solve the three questions. The Chart for 2 hours was same for all the three persons. The ascendant lord planet was in second house of money , aspected by a Retrograde Shani. So all had money problem. Further, after 4 months , Retrograde motion of Saturn was to become direct , after which the money situation should become normal . Am I right in my conclusion Guru Ji ? " Astrologer answered in positive. Then disciple asked " Then Guru Ji ! what was the need of any Upaay in all three cases ? and if at all Upaay was necessary ,then why so much difference in Upaay for 3 persons ?"

The astrologer Guru replied " my dear disciple ! the calculation part you carried out , is part of astrology and since you have knowledge of astrology and calculations, you can be confident that even without doing any Upaay , things would be OK after 4 months . But transferring that confidence about a positive future event to the 3 persons of different economic standards , is the main problem for an astrologer and here knowledge of psychology comes in picture.

If I simply ask them not to worry , everything will be OK in 4 months, they will still remain in self-doubt and may not sow the crop, lend money or sell land in panic etc. So , even good rains will become futile. Asking somebody to do an act proportionate to his economic standard boosts his ego and enhances confidence with a belief that good things happened because they did good things on advice by astrologer. Same Upaay will not work for all 3 persons , because each has a different economic and social standing, so each one was told a different Upaay. "

The disciple said "Guru Ji, if I would have come with that question , what Upaay you could have told me ? " Guru ji said " An astrologer never tells an Upaay to another astrologer , he only shares his logic and calculation , because here psychology will fail . Upaay (Remedies) are only for astrology ignorant persons. If you can swallow the bitter pill medicine without honey, there is no need of honey at all ! "

The disciple then asked " Guru Ji ! Had the calculation shown a crop failure again , what Upaay would have been suggested by you ?"

Guruji replied " My dear son ! since I had already calculated the chart for that time span , I already know whether the answer to be told to prospective clients would be positive or negative . In case of negative prospects, I would not accept the fee,given by them on arrival and did not add to their problem . Second , they would have been hinted about a bad prospect by advising them to remain spendthrift, reduce the exposure to expenditures etc and explore better alternatives and have less expectations from rains. But I would have still refrained from saying that there would be another drought , as it would kill their living spirit immediately. "

Osho in his write up on astrology , says that predictions for a person will work, as long as the person does not change himself and goes on working like a machine. Astrologer can see, that this person, behaves like a machine and every time, under influence of Mars, reacts revengefully, if excited or abused. So astrologer's prediction will keep on happening. But, if that person is told about his faulty design,which creates same scenario of violence repeatedly and then counselled to practice forgiveness and if he reforms , then prediction lose their meaning in future.

Gemstone or Upaay are no match for a good counselling by an astute astrologer, which can bring long term reforms in personality and thus change the destiny also !